Best Overall
Apple iMac 24-inch M4
Key details
- Chip
- Apple M4, 8-core CPU
- Memory
- 16GB unified memory
- Display
- 24-inch 4.5K Retina, 500 nits
- Storage
- 256GB SSD
The iMac's 24-inch display is the best screen in this roundup, and the gap isn't small. It's a 4.5K Retina panel at 500 nits that supports up to a billion colors, so photographs open with detail you can actually judge and text stays crisp when you lean in. Spend your day cropping and grading, and that density is the whole argument.
The M4 chip with 16GB of unified memory is the other half of it. Apps open on the first click, and we kept a browser full of tabs running beside an editing session without the machine turning sulky. At 9.72 pounds it's also the lightest pick here, which sounds like a strange thing to care about on a desktop until you want to carry it to the kitchen table for a video call.
The compromise is storage. The base configuration is 256GB, and a working photo library eats that faster than anyone expects, so plan on an external SSD from the first week or pay for more up front. It's also a Mac, which ends the conversation entirely if your software only runs on Windows.
For everyone else — especially anyone who shoots photographs or cuts short video — this is the machine where the money goes to the part you look at all day. Setup is quick, and moving files across from an older Mac is straightforward rather than an afternoon of adapters.
Pros
- 4.5K Retina display at 500 nits
- M4 chip with 16GB unified memory
- Lightest all-in-one here at 9.72 pounds
- Fast setup and simple data transfer
Cons
- 256GB base storage is tight for photos
- Mac-only software and a premium price
The best screen and the smoothest everyday performance in this group — the one we pick for photo and video work, with an external drive covering the storage.